Escape wedding with reception and dessert party?

[ppawdisney]

Hi everyone! I'm beginning to consider an Escape wedding package to save some money over Wishes. I've seen that the cost for the wedding pavilion, which is what we would want, would be 8,000. We would have the maximum 18 guests, just family. We would like to have a reception dinner as well with our 18 guests and then have a dessert party at Epcot with friends and probably about 50 guests. Is this even possible and if so what are or reception location options, and what would the cost of the reception and dessert party be? This is just something we're considering depending on the cost. Wishes would still be our top choice but we would do this if need be!

 

[ALegrande]

Hello from a fellow Escape bride!!

For pricing, I would really recommend buying Carrie’s e-book “Fairytale Weddings Guide”. She has exact pricing in there and even editable budget pages where you can make calculations and see potential costs. Your DP and Reception costs could vary so much based on location, time of day, etc, so it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what the cost would be.

You can plan a dessert party with more guests than the 18, although some brides have had different experiences with this. It seems as though DFTW is becoming more and more lax on people having larger DPs planned through the weddings division, although some brides have also received pushback from their planner saying they could only increase the guest count by 5%. The easiest way around this or to not risk it at all is to plan the DP through Disney Catered Events, but in that case you wouldn’t be allowed to wear your wedding dress to the DP. If you go through DCE, then you could easily do the 50 guests no problem.

 

[ppawdisney]

Thank you I'm going to see how much that book costs it sounds very helpful! As a fellow Escape bride, would you mind sharing a little about your wedding? I'm concerned that since there isn't much customization with Escape things might be plain. I also really don't want to cut into our cake right after getting married, and I don't want the reception at a restaurant so those are my biggest concerns.

 

[ALegrande]

Sure! So I actually had a very unique setup lol. We had an Escape wedding and a full reception with about 55 guests at Swan and Dolphin. I actually have a planning journal under the "Planning our Happily Ever After" tab on this site if you want to read more about our wedding process and the choices I made (Ashley & Matthew's Escape Wedding 3/16/18)! I actually customized a LOT of the Escape options lol cause I didn't really like most of the options/didn't want it to be plain either! So in a nutshell here is what I customized:
-The cake- made my own custom design and Wishes filling flavors
-The floral- swapped out several of the original flower colors for different colors/different flowers
-The transportation- we used it for a night before outing with our guests
-The photography- we brought in our own photographer so we did a family photo session instead with all of our extended family

We chose the Yacht Club Gazebo as it has been a dream of mine to get married there since I was a kid. Also, I loved the fact that it was outdoors, giving me the option for "lurkers"- guests who could watch the ceremony from the boardwalk area even though they weren't part of the 18.

For the reception we did a traditional reception with a DJ, buffet dinner, dancing, etc. So I can't really help in that department as far as not having it in a restaurant, and I'm honestly not sure if DFTW will help you plan a "reception" so to speak for Escape if its not like an after-ceremony meal at a restaurant. I do highly recommend buying the Fairytale Weddings Guide e-book, because there are tons of examples and other options in there! It helped a lot when I was planning too.

Let me know if you have any other specific questions about our Escape portion of our wedding! Happy to help in any way I can!

 

[ppawdisney]

Wow that sounds amazing and a great idea to get a Disney wedding while still having a big reception! I love it. I bought the book! I've just glanced through it so far because it's so much but it's amazing and seems so helpful. You're right, I feel like I won't like a lot of the Escape options and will end up wanting to change a lot. But it just seems to make so much more sense financially I feel like it has to be the way to go. I really want to do the dessert party so we can invite more family and friends to that, but not being able to wear my wedding dress would be a huge deciding factor for me. Were you happy with going technically off disney property for the reception? We've stayed at the Swan and Dolphin many times and the amount you save there versus on Disney property is huge, we are just weary of going off property! Do you know if you absolutely have to have the cake right after the ceremony with Escape? We would be having the ceremony at the Wedding Pavilion so it would technically be done at the Grand Floridian according to the book, but I would much rather have it at the reception.

 

[lurkyloo]

You can just stage the cutting of the cake for the Escape reception—you don't have to actually cut into it and eat it. They will box it up and put it in the limo for you to take to your next destination or, if you are planning a catered event via your DFTW planer, they might let you have the cake delivered straight to the catered event.

This episode of my podcast explains Escape in depth, including how to add a catered event and/or a dessert party https://disneyweddingpodcast.com/2018/01/10/escape-overview-faq-2018/

And here are all my interviews with Escape brides (@ALegrande's is coming up soon!) -- some of the most recent brides talk about how they decided between Escape and Wishes: https://disneyweddingpodcast.com/category/walt-disney-world/escape-collection/

 

[ALegrande]

Were you happy with going technically off disney property for the reception? We've stayed at the Swan and Dolphin many times and the amount you save there versus on Disney property is huge, we are just weary of going off property! Do you know if you absolutely have to have the cake right after the ceremony with Escape? We would be having the ceremony at the Wedding Pavilion so it would technically be done at the Grand Floridian according to the book, but I would much rather have it at the reception.

 

[ALegrande]

Yes yes and yes! So sorry, I forgot to add that we too didn’t cut our cake at the “cake and champagne” part- we did as Carrie mentioned above a staged cake cutting (I knew I was forgetting something to add in my post lol). We boxed up our cake and then took it to the reception! We didn’t even have the cake topper on it initially for the staged cutting since we wanted to minimize holes cut in it, since we’d have to remove the topper to box it up and move it (I’ll add some pictures below of our staged cutting!). The cake made it perfectly back to our reception and was put back together without anyone knowing it was ever taken apart! Lol

Yes, we loved our reception at S&D! It was the only way for us we could make a Disney wedding work, so I don’t regret it one bit. Our non-negotiables were a weekend wedding, a night time reception, and dancing, which we couldn’t get with DFTW unless we were Wishes, which we just couldn’t afford on a Friday or Saturday night. While the overall experience was the best with the DFTW side of the wedding planning, we still had the perfect day and our wedding was everything we dreamed of!

Let us know what you end up deciding! And again if there are any other questions I can help you answer I’m happy to help!!

 

[ppawdisney]

Thank you so so much lurkyloo! I will definitely be listening to these podcasts and interviews! Can't wait for ALegrande's!

 

[ppawdisney]

Yes yes and yes! So sorry, I forgot to add that we too didn’t cut our cake at the “cake and champagne” part- we did as Carrie mentioned above a staged cake cutting (I knew I was forgetting something to add in my post lol). We boxed up our cake and then took it to the reception! We didn’t even have the cake topper on it initially for the staged cutting since we wanted to minimize holes cut in it, since we’d have to remove the topper to box it up and move it (I’ll add some pictures below of our staged cutting!). The cake made it perfectly back to our reception and was put back together without anyone knowing it was ever taken apart! Lol

Yes, we loved our reception at S&D! It was the only way for us we could make a Disney wedding work, so I don’t regret it one bit. Our non-negotiables were a weekend wedding, a night time reception, and dancing, which we couldn’t get with DFTW unless we were Wishes, which we just couldn’t afford on a Friday or Saturday night. While the overall experience was the best with the DFTW side of the wedding planning, we still had the perfect day and our wedding was everything we dreamed of!

Let us know what you end up deciding! And again if there are any other questions I can help you answer I’m happy to help!!
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Wow that's beautiful! I love it and would be absolutely thrilled with something like that. It's awesome that you were able to make it work without having to sacrifice your non-negotiables. For us, we aren't dancers so we are kind of concerned with having a big reception space because it will feel awkward to not dance. I feel so torn up about it because on one hand I want a traditional wedding with dancing and I definitely want a first dance, but I also don't want everyone watching me! (can't dance lol) So I'm not sure what to do because on the other hand it's just not us and there are some non-traditional elements we'll be having. For example we won't be having a bridal party or groomsmen so hopefully it won't all seem too weird to people.

 

[ALegrande]

Wow that's beautiful! I love it and would be absolutely thrilled with something like that. It's awesome that you were able to make it work without having to sacrifice your non-negotiables. For us, we aren't dancers so we are kind of concerned with having a big reception space because it will feel awkward to not dance. I feel so torn up about it because on one hand I want a traditional wedding with dancing and I definitely want a first dance, but I also don't want everyone watching me! (can't dance lol) So I'm not sure what to do because on the other hand it's just not us and there are some non-traditional elements we'll be having. For example we won't be having a bridal party or groomsmen so hopefully it won't all seem too weird to people.

Aww thank you!! I know that a LOT of Disney brides don’t do the dancing or do other non traditional things, so you definitely aren’t alone there! One of my good friends had a Disney wedding with no dancing, she did a brunch reception and had things like characters instead to add in that level of “entertainment” (she was Wishes though). You could definitely do some sort of meal or something, or just go straight from the ceremony to the dessert party and make that your “reception”! You could do your first dance at your “cake and champagne” bit, and then after people could use the free time to relax or nap and recharge, you and your new hubby could go have an intimate meal just you two, or you could do a small reception at maybe one of the Disney Springs restaurants to have that first dance and have that “reception” feel before the DP. There are definitely lots of options and you just have to do what’s true to you and your fiancé! I spent so much energy and money doing so many things for other people for our wedding, and ultimately some of those things went unappreciated or even unnoticed. So do what makes YOU both happy and don’t let other people’s comments get you down!

 

[ppawdisney]

That's so true! I like your friends idea of having characters instead of dancing. We're not too big on the characters but I think it might be a good idea to add a little entertainment like you said since we really would just be having dinner and cake at the reception. I hope there is some way to have more guests at a DP while still wearing my wedding dress even if we end up having the DP at the Grand Floridian instead of Epcot...hopefully I can figure that one out so we can have some friends there! In the end you're totally right though, we have to do what's true to us and getting married at Disney is just what we really want no matter what. It's disappointing that you spent so much time and money on things for others and they went unappreciated. Hopefully you and your hubby enjoyed them at least! As we go along in the planning process hopefully you don't mind if I send you a message here and there asking for tips! I'm even gonna browse through some Swan and Dolphin reception things now...that's the first place we went to Disney together and stayed there and totally fell in love with all things Disney, so it would be fitting!

 

[ALegrande]

@ppawdisney absolutely! Feel free to inbox me or just tag me on here and ask! I love helping future brides through the process- it’s definitely a shared experience no one else really understands, and it’s so nice to help future brides in the way I was helped through my planning! Xoxoxo

 

[ppawdisney]

Thank you so much! I will definitely take you up on that. That's so true! No one else understands!

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I had 20 guests at my wedding. Got married at the wedding pavilion. Had reception with buffet & open bar. We did have A LOT of food ( got warning from chef) but husband wanted what he wanted. Had DJ with dancing then went to Epcot (Italy) for dessert party & fireworks. We had all our guests picked up at their hotel(s) by Disney bus & bought to wedding. Bus also took us from reception to Epcot & then took us all back. Husband & I had limp after wedding for pics. Wanted photographer & photo session @ MK so to save a little, had photographer leave reception a little earlier ( after major pics done). After all , if there’s only 20 people , how many pics can you have at same place with same people.

 

[ppawdisney]

Wow that sounds great! Where did you have your reception? I would love to have a dessert party in Italy that would be our top choice for a DP! Hopefully it's in our budget. So since you had 20 guests it was a Wishes wedding?

 

[ALegrande]

Yeah @SandyinMonterey that sounds like a Wishes wedding.. were you able to do all of that under the Escape package?

 

[SandyinMonterey]

Yeah @SandyinMonterey that sounds like a Wishes wedding.. were you able to do all of that under the Escape package?

I looked at my wedding album, did photo with us & all our guests. We had 17 guests.

 

[ALegrande]

Oh that makes more sense. But they let you have a full reception with DJ in the Escape package? What year was your wedding? Where was your reception? I haven't heard of a full reception with DJ under Escape, so I'm just curious! Sorry for all of the ?'s lol.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

Oh that makes more sense. But they let you have a full reception with DJ in the Escape package? What year was your wedding? Where was your reception? I haven't heard of a full reception with DJ under Escape, so I'm just curious! Sorry for all of the ?'s lol.

Married in 2001. I don’t remember name of reception place. It was a room & had an outdoor patio. I wanted a place that would accommodate one large table for everyone. Especially since it was a small wedding. It wasn’t a hotel or restaurant but it was nice. I wanted a restaurant at first but was limited to food choices. Yes , had DJ. I remember picking songs. Ask as many questions as you want. Wish I could remember name of reception place. I do recall it being a large place/building ( besides the room we had).